P.J. Adams Parkway in line for modest improvements

Published: Sunday, February 24, 2013 at 10:40 PM.

CRESTVIEW — A safety project for P.J. Adams Parkway will begin to address the road’s notorious congestion sooner than expected, Okaloosa County public works officials have announced.

However, it’s not the widening of the road to four lanes, which may not even be funded until 2030, Public Works Director John Hofstad said.

“The state has a safety-improvement project on their docket now. They’ll do some shoulder work, some striping work, some widening in some sections to include a left-turn lane. It only runs from where we completed the four-laning at (State Road) 85 and terminates at Ashley (Drive),” he said.

The project should begin in 2015, Hofstad said.

The restriping of P.J. Adams will continue to Antioch Road and on to U.S. Highway 90. However, adding turn lanes or widening that stretch not included at this time, Hofstad said.

The growth of neighborhoods off the P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor has led to busier rush hours. Countryview Estates residents have complained that westbound evening rush-hour traffic makes them virtual prisoners in their neighborhood.

The state’s allocation of safety improvement funds came as a surprise when county engineer Jason Autrey learned about it last week, Hofstad said.

“If the state’s going to manage local projects, you’d think they’d let us know about it, but we’re not going to turn our backs on it,” Hofstad said.

A study on widening the P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor to four lanes and making it a bypass around Crestview’s southwest quarter concluded last summer, but funding is not expected until 2030 at the earliest, state officials have said.

Hofstad said his department hopes to accomplish some of the bypass components in intervals as financing becomes available.

The recently announced safety improvement project is a first step.

“There are some dollars available,” Hofstad said. “It’s not going to be four-laning and it’s not for a couple years — but at least it’s something.”

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CRESTVIEW — A safety project for P.J. Adams Parkway will begin to address the road’s notorious congestion sooner than expected, Okaloosa County public works officials have announced.

However, it’s not the widening of the road to four lanes, which may not even be funded until 2030, Public Works Director John Hofstad said.

“The state has a safety-improvement project on their docket now. They’ll do some shoulder work, some striping work, some widening in some sections to include a left-turn lane. It only runs from where we completed the four-laning at (State Road) 85 and terminates at Ashley (Drive),” he said.

The project should begin in 2015, Hofstad said.

The restriping of P.J. Adams will continue to Antioch Road and on to U.S. Highway 90. However, adding turn lanes or widening that stretch not included at this time, Hofstad said.

The growth of neighborhoods off the P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor has led to busier rush hours. Countryview Estates residents have complained that westbound evening rush-hour traffic makes them virtual prisoners in their neighborhood.

The state’s allocation of safety improvement funds came as a surprise when county engineer Jason Autrey learned about it last week, Hofstad said.

“If the state’s going to manage local projects, you’d think they’d let us know about it, but we’re not going to turn our backs on it,” Hofstad said.

A study on widening the P.J. Adams-Antioch corridor to four lanes and making it a bypass around Crestview’s southwest quarter concluded last summer, but funding is not expected until 2030 at the earliest, state officials have said.

Hofstad said his department hopes to accomplish some of the bypass components in intervals as financing becomes available.

The recently announced safety improvement project is a first step.

“There are some dollars available,” Hofstad said. “It’s not going to be four-laning and it’s not for a couple years — but at least it’s something.”